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Event Information

Date and Time

Location

The European Economic and Social Committee

Rue Belliard 99

Jacques Delors Building - room JDE62

Brussels, 1040

Event description

Description

The term 'eco-sufficiency' refers to a strategy to complement the eco-efficiency approach that so far has been the main focus of the sustainable development debate. At Friends of the Earth Europe we believe that there are limits to the green growth approach in keeping the world economy within the planetary boundaries. Because of the rebound effect, an increase in resource efficiency alone leads to nothing, unless it goes hand in hand with an intelligent restraint of economic growth and consumption. Between the extremes of excessive energy and resource use and material poverty lays 'eco-sufficiency’, which is about using enough. Enough resources and energy for achieving human flourishing without compromising ecosystem stability.

To date the debate on eco-sufficiency has been mostly confined to the academic and grassroots level without a real engagement with decision-makers. We think that this conference can bridge this gap and stimulate a constructive debate on the limits of eco-efficiency. At the conference, several experts will present their research to a targeted audience consisting of representatives of NGOs and policy makers and will engage in a panel discussion with various stakeholders.

The conference will also be an opportunity for all the attendees to contribute ideas for advancing the policy agenda on eco-sufficiency at the EU level. This debate will be the starting point for elaborating policy proposals that will be included in FoEE's report on eco-sufficiency that will be published at the beginning of 2018.

The conference will be followed by a networking reception.

The experts who will participate in the conference are:

Anna Coote, head of social policy for the New Economics Foundation

Sylvia Lorek, chair of SERI Deutschland

André Reichel, professor of Critical Management & Sustainable Development at the Karlshochschule International University in Karlsruhe

Klára Hajdu, Senior Policy Officer at CEEweb

Blake Alcott, PhD in Ecological Economics and contributor to "Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era"

In collaboration with Oikos and European Economic Social Committee

Please note that all participants will need to pass through EESC's security check-point so please foresee time to wait in line. This also explains why participants are asked to provide information regarding ID number, nationality and country of residence. Organisers have a strict deadline by when they have to submit all participants' information and this means that registration for this event will be possible until 08:00 o'clock on Monday 13/11/2017. After this deadline organisers can no longer accept registrations. Thank you for your understanding.

Conference programme November 20th, 2017 (EESC, Brussels)

10h00Welcome speech, Ms Jagoda Munic (Director of Friends of the Earth Europe), Ms Brenda King(President of the Sustainable Development Observatory of the EESC )